Wedding Rush

My older brother has been divorced for quite a lot of years and has been busy working, raising his kids, doing the joint custody thing, but there was something missing from his life.  He was lonely.  Fortunately, he met a wonderful, talented lady to whom he proposed at Christmas.  There was paperwork and clearances to get through, so here is their very flexible wedding announcement.

To everyone's surprise, the Temple clearance went through last Friday March 24th and so we had just days to get ready for a wedding, but we were up to the task.  Mom re-used the decorations from her Relief Society Birthday dinner the night before, and many of the sisters in her ward pitched in and helped with the food and setting things up.  Who knew that you could rent a room at the Logan Library??? I do have to admit that everything was really nice, and it was great not to have to spend months worrying about all of the details.

My sister and I went in on the flowers arranged at my local grocery store Just $75 for the bouquet and boutonniere 

Awesome selection of salads with sandwiches and cake

Beautiful quilt made by sisters in their ward

The happy couple leaving

I Survived Prom

Nearly a month ago my oldest daughter thought that she just might get asked to Prom.  To most mothers this would just mean a few extra hours at the mall to find a dress, shoes, and accessories.  It just isn't that simple at our house.  You see, I have tall kids, and my daughter is 6'1" and built like a runway model.  (Which you would think would make it easy to find a dress, but no)

I began scouring the internet for dresses that were long enough as well as relatively modest and tasteful and started a new board on my Pinterest dedicated to Prom.  In short, the hunt was on.  My husband couldn't help but notice my new obsession and he decided offer his "superior"  internet searching skills in my quest.  After several hours he had narrowed the choices down to a handful of dresses that he would be willing to buy for his daughter.  His criteria was mostly that it had to be modest as well as classy.  No foofy fluffy dress for Nicole.  More the red carpet look.  I think he has great taste in womens clothes, so I went along with it. We ended up going to Nordstroms in Salt lake to find the one that we got, but it was so long she even needed heels.  (another "hunt" for 12 Narrow dancing shoes).

They went to Salt Lake Hoggle Zoo for their  "Day Date" (I don't remember ever going on day dates before dances, but it is what they do now)  Upon returning home I had about an hour to completely re-do makeup and hair and turn my daughter into a princess (ok not Disney... more like Kate Middleton).  I have to admit that it was probably as much fun for me as it was for her, but she looked gorgeous when she went out the door for a magical evening and I felt like a fairy Godmother.

Aspen Forest Bedroom

My oldest Daughter spent a couple of summers working at Aspen Ridge Scout Camp in southern Idaho.  She loved the feel of the aspen groves and wanted to create a similar effect in her bedroom.  I scoured the internet and found a few places that made vinyl aspen/birch wall art, but boy were they Pricey! Once again, Pinterest saves the day when she ran into a tutorial on how to get the look with frog tape and paint.  The lady on the tutorial used an exacto knife to cut out the marks, but my daughter wanted more of a freehand look and just ripped the tape into bits.

freehand Frog Tape artistry

Trees painted in cream and warm gray

Finished corner.  Can you find the "carved heart"?

Girl Magnets

My boys wearing their "girl magnets"

This past summer I bought my teenage son a pair of aviator style sunglasses.  They were probably in some clearance bin in a teen store at the mall and it was just one more thing to buy along with the wardrobe staples like T-shirts.  When we got home my girls made such a fuss about how handsome my older son looked in his new shades and that they would be girl magnets.  It must have gotten my younger son thinking (and perhaps a little jealous of his sisters attentions to his older brother) that he begged me to get him a pair when we were out shopping again.  I thought it was so that he could be like his older brother, but this morning he informed me that his sunglasses didn't work. (it has been six months since I had gotten them, so I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about.... broken???? doesn't block enough sunlight???).  He goes on to explain that one day he and his friend planned ahead and both wore their aviator shades to school and all the girls on the playground did was "the usual".... standing around and talking.  He seemed so disappointed that his scientific experiment had failed.  It was all I could do to keep from bursting out in laughter to think of what conversations and planning had gone into that failed playground adventure, and how our words could have been taken so literally.  I'm not sure how to explain that life doesn't happen like an Axe commercial and that girls on the playground won't get enough courage to talk to boys for a couple more years.

Soap on a Rope

When I was a kid WAAAAAAAAYYYYY back in the "70's I remember seeing advertisements on TV for Soap-on-a-rope.  I'm not sure why, either, that the product was always decidedly masculine, I mean, Isn't it just handy to hang your soap up?

Apparently this makes a good Christmas or Fathers Day present for many men

  Fast forward to the present and take a look in my shower.  No soap on a rope here.... just bottles of Body Wash and those Scrubbing pouf things that look like they are made from wads of what  they used to package grapes in at the grocery store.  There is a couple of different kinds of body wash.  One for the Teenage Son so that he smells so good that girls will instantly be attracted to him (according to the advertisements) One very feminine bottle promising moisture and youth, and another of practical oatmeal infused wash for the younger ones with sensitive itch-prone skin.  Last a soap dish containing a slightly mushy bar of spring scent, because my Husband simply refuses to use a pouf, because he see's them as "girly", but his bar isn't on a rope.
  Why, then you ask,  am I thinking of soap-on-a-rope? It is because I received a couple of bars of Handmade soap from my Mom for Christmas.  They smelled Wonderful ... one like Mint and the others like Lavendar. "Hmmmm....", I thought to myself,  "How am I going to use these without them becoming a gushy mess in the shower?"  Using them next to the sink was out of the question since none of the children will pick up a used piece of soap because they think that it is gross.
  I looked at some recipes on the internet about turning a bar of soap into liquid and it involved Glycerine and distilled water , which meant a trip to the store and then  trying to remember to get them once I was there and purchasing all the "normal" items that I usually get .... yep, too hard.
  I was at Wal-Mart the other day and saw this.....

Bar Soap pouch scrub

I liked it so well I think I will get some more for my kids or Summer Camp.